The present disclosure relates to a light-source module for a display device and a display device having the same and, more particularly, to a light-source module for a display device that can reduce a current difference between a plurality of light emitting diode (“LED”) strings by detecting currents flowing through the LED strings.
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”), which is one kind of flat panel display, is a light receiving device that is not self-luminescent. Thus, the LCD displays images using light supplied from a separate light-source module, for example, a backlight assembly. The light-source module includes a light-source and a light source driver driving the light source. To achieve light weight and for compactness, the light-source module uses an LED string, which has a plurality of LEDs connected in series, as the light source. A plurality of LED strings are connected in parallel in order to fabricate a planar light source.
In the related art, a light-source module is configured to control the total current of the LED strings that are connected in parallel. Therefore, if any one of the LED strings malfunctions, the light uniformity of the light source is degraded. For example, assuming that the light-source module has three LED stings, there is a case where the amount of a current flowing through the first LED string decreases due to a malfunction of the first LED string. In this case, the amounts of currents flowing through the second and third LED strings increase, because the total current amount is constant. Thus, the brightness of the first LED string decreases and the brightness of the second and third LED strings increases, leading to the non-uniformity of the brightness of the light source. Moreover, the LEDs of the second and third LED strings with an increased current will degrade more rapidly than the LEDs of the first LED string with a reduced current.